If your child works hard at A Level English and wants an A, but the grade is not improving, it can be difficult to know what to change. An A Level English tutor can look at recent work and feedback with your child to help decide what to practise next.
Before you read on
- Start with the work your child has been doing, a recent marked answer and the teacher’s comments.
- Use the feedback to ask what your child needs to improve as they work towards an A.
- The three-piles check needs no knowledge of the texts, and it ends with a question for the teacher rather than a verdict.
- Our lessons are online, and the tutor works from your child’s own course and school work. George and Lucy’s profiles appear below.
What kind of work is your child doing for English?
It is easy to know how many hours go on English and hard to know what fills them, because English work does not all look the same. Three kinds are easy to spot. There is reading the texts and making notes on them. There is learning quotations, facts or context by heart. And there is writing a full answer to a question, from the first line to the last.
The mix alone cannot tell you whether it suits your child’s course or the work their teacher has set. What a parent can do is see the mix. That is all the check below asks for, and it needs no knowledge of the texts.
Try the three-piles check
- With your child, list every piece of English work from the last week: homework, class work, revision and reading.
- Sort each item into one of three piles: reading and making notes; learning quotations, facts or context; writing a full answer to a question.
- For the third pile, note how many were written to a time limit and how many came back marked.
This check shows what kind of work has been happening, not whether any of it is right or wrong. A week with no full answers is not a fault, because some weeks in an English course are for reading. Take the list to the teacher and ask which kind of work they want more of.
Does your child need help deciding what to change in their English revision?
More hours do not tell you what to change. A tutor can look at recent work alongside the teacher’s comments and talk about what your child could practise next.
Ask about revision supportWhat did the teacher say on the last marked piece?
Find the most recent piece of English work that came back with a mark and a comment, and note the date. If several weeks have passed, ask your child what feedback they have had since then, including anything discussed in class.
Then read the comment for what it asks the next piece to do, rather than for what it says went wrong. A comment might ask for closer attention to the question, or for the writer’s choices to be explained rather than listed. If you cannot tell which part of the answer the comment refers to, ask the teacher to point to it. That is a fair question, and the answer is useful to a tutor as well.
The same worry comes up in other subjects. Our physics page, Studying hard at A Level Physics but the marks aren’t improving? Here’s why, starts from the same place.
Does your child read the feedback but struggle to use it in the next answer?
A tutor can work through a marked answer with your child and talk about how to apply the teacher’s comments to another question. Include the feedback you are concerned about in your enquiry.
Enquire about English lessonsWhat should your child practise next?
Put the list of last week’s work beside a recent marked answer and the teacher’s comments. These give your child something concrete to discuss with the teacher or a tutor. The question is what to practise next, rather than simply how to fit in more revision.
If a comment asks for closer attention to the question, a tutor can read the answer with your child and discuss where it moves away from what was asked. If the feedback asks for more explanation, they can look at a passage together and discuss what needs explaining. The next task should follow from that discussion, rather than from the comment alone.
Timed practice can be useful when the aim is to work within a time limit. Practice without a time limit leaves more room to pause and revise an answer. Neither tells the whole story about your child’s English. Ask the teacher which kind of practice fits the current work.
For a wider picture of the subject, our general guide, How to Get an A in A Level English?, covers A Level English as a whole.
What would an A Level English tutor in Doha add to all that work?
An A is the goal, but a tutor needs to look at the work before suggesting what to change. In an online lesson, your child and the tutor can look at a marked answer together on the shared whiteboard. They can discuss the teacher’s feedback and work through a part of the answer that needs attention. A later piece gives them another opportunity to see how your child has used that discussion.
The tutor works from your child’s own course, whether that is English Literature, English Language or a combined course, using the relevant texts and school work. The list from the three-piles check adds context about the preparation already being done. Together, these give the tutor a basis for discussing the next practice task with your child.
This clip shows a maths lesson recorded in Pencil Spaces, the online classroom used by Greenhill Academics.
George and Lucy, two of our English tutors
George holds a first-class BA in English Literature and a master’s in Linguistics from Cambridge with a high distinction. He also completed a philosophy conversion at the University of St Andrews. He tutors English Literature, History and Religious Studies at A Level.
Lucy read Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion at Clare College, Cambridge, where she was awarded the Don Stebbings Prize. She has tutored since 2015 and teaches Religious Studies, Psychology and English at GCSE, A Level and IB.
Would you like your child to work with George or Lucy?
Both teach English at A Level. Read their profiles and mention either tutor in your enquiry if you would like to ask about lessons with them.
Ask about George or LucyQuestions from parents whose child is working hard for an A
My child spends hours on English every week. Why is the grade not improving?
Hours alone do not tell you what the time is being spent on. Find out how much of it goes on writing full answers that get marked, and how much goes on reading and notes. Then ask the teacher which kind of work they want more of.
My child’s school runs a combined Language and Literature course. What do I select on the form?
Under A Level, select both English Language and English Literature, because the form lists them separately. Then type the name of the combined course in the free text box so we know which course it is.
Is Year 12 too early to get help with English?
No. If the first marked pieces have come back lower than you expected, that is a reasonable time to look at what kind of work is being done.
What time would an online lesson be in Doha?
For any proposed lesson, check the date and ask for the time in Doha. If a time is given in another time zone, confirm the conversion for that date before agreeing to it.
Will a tutor tell us what is going wrong after the first lesson?
A tutor can review recent work with your child and discuss the teacher’s feedback. More than one piece may be needed to understand where help would be useful.
Is your child aiming for an A in English and unsure what to do next?
Tell us the current grade, the recent feedback and what your child has tried so far. You can also include anything specific you would like help with.
Make an enquiry